US Cinemas Refuse To Show

Once again the end of the year is upon us, once again another episode of the Star Wars saga is set for release.

However “Star Wars The Last Jedi” comes with a lot of package apparently, in the form of various demands of the cinemas who want to show it. And for some smaller cinema’s in the US, this is not acceptable.

The revenue generated by anything coming out of Marvel (The Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America, etc) or Disney’s yearly Star Wars release comes with so much guaranteed marketing hype, that any cinema is pretty much always filled on opening night.

But of course the studios know this very well and so they let those movies hit the theaters with a pack of “top-secret” provisions, “terms that numerous theater owners say are the most onerous they’ve ever seen”, and violating those provisions carries a financial penalty

In addition to immediately taking some 65 percent of ticket revenues, Disney’s secret provision for ‘The Last Jedi’ state that each theater is obliged to commit its largest screening room to the film for a guaranteed minimum of four weeks.

On any multi-screen chain cinema in large US cities this is probably no problem (certainly after a slumping summer they all know that Star Wars The Last Jedi is going to be this year’s golden ticket to bumping revenue), but it has become clear that some cinemas in rural areas of the US are refusing to go along with this, not wanting to leave their biggest screens tied up for so long, which probably means that some fans of the Jedi saga will have to travel far and wide to see their heroes come alive on screen.

The Last Jedi opens December 15, 2017. May the force be with all those who will have to drive a bit to go and see it.